I lived here during the 2017-18 school year when it was still 411 Lofts.
To be fair, half the year the complex was owned by Sterling, and then the current owners took over. I would give Sterling 1-star, and current owners 3-stars to average out to about 2-stars.
I'll start from the beginning:
The positive: If you are heading to college, this is actually a nice place to live. Great location, nice amenities, and, as my girlfriend called it, 'adult dorms.' Staff was INCREDIBLY friendly. Surprisingly, for it being an apartment complex with a bunch of undergraduates, it was relatively quiet (aside from one time I ran into naked undergrads laughing and screaming in the hallway at 1AM on a weekday).
The negatives:
1. The BS Roommate Matching Process:
I am a professional. I am so over the young-20s mentality (I'm nearly 30), so when I decided to move to Ann Arbor to pursue my master's degree, it was very important to me that I lived in an affordable place with mostly professionals and/or graduate students. At the time, it was Sterling that gave me a 'Comprehensive Roommate Matching' questionnaire (as they called it) because I decided that I would live with roommates to save some money (a decision I'd later regret). I let them know that above all else, I wanted to live with graduate students or professionals, ABSOLUTELY no undergraduates. They said that was fine, yet I still ended up living with 2 undergraduates. I decided to suck it up and deal with it, but living with 2 people that were respectively 7 and 8 years younger than me did not go very well.
2. The Toilets:
Absolutely a nightmare. They use something called the "Flush Assist," so don't expect that you'll be able to fix your toilet flushing issues on your own. It would take 4-8 flushes to work on many occasions.
3. "YES! WE HAVE A GYM! YES! YOU CAN CANCEL YOUR GYM MEMBERSHIP!"
This is EXACTLY what I was told when I was apartment hunting. No, if you're a man that lifts heavy, you cannot cancel your gym membership. However, to be fair, it seems as if they are currently renovating the gym. I have no idea what they plan to do.
4. Staff
Yes. The staff was very friendly. However, everyone seemed to be below 22 years old and relatively incompetent. I would ask questions and would never get a direct answer. Also, it's nice that they give you free stuff (like free sandwiches, Thanksgiving dinner, cookies on Friday), but I remember when they got Jimmy John sandwiches, I went to grab one, and saw a girl take a bag and put about HALF the sandwiches away -- and there was a staff member RIGHT THERE that seemed to be OK with it. Also, during move-out, I handed my DIRECTV box to one of the staff members who told me he'd "take care of it." I got a hefty bill in the mail the following month. I currently have a friend who lives there, and I think she also has dealt with the same guy as she has reported to me that 'this guy in the office never actually does what he tells me he'll do, and then I have to go above and beyond to get what I need.' Lastly, maintenance is EXTREMELY nice, but maybe 1/3 of what I asked to be fixed was ACTUALLY fixed (one time they didn't even come in and still left a notice saying that they completed the job -- I know this because I waited on the couch for them). I started getting better results when I purposefully stayed in the apartment and spoke to the maintenance guy(s).
5. The rooms
Don't let the pictures on the website fool you. These apartments (at least, mine) are not THAT nice. Doable, but not as nice as you'd think. First, there are NO light fixtures AT ALL. You'll need to purchase roughly 3 lamps (per roommate) if you don't want to live in the dark. Second, a lot of the stuff is old. Our sink disposal was so bad, it began to leak once and destroyed EVERYTHING underneath our sink. Third, windows don't open at all (I don't know how that is even legal -- seems like the fire marshall would be on top of this one).
6. The Yelp Rating
Again, speaking about Sterling (I'm not sure the company that currently owns the place does this), but the Yelp! review is so high because they have these events where if you post a nice review (you actually have to show the review to a staff member), they give you free lunch. It's unethical, but OF COURSE college-aged students would be all about it. It's free food.
Again, I actually think this is a DECENT place to live if you are an undergraduate that enjoys being in close proximity to other undergraduates in a great location. My biggest peeves about this place include (but not limited to) the lies that I was told about Sterling during my apartment hunt, as living in tight quarters with young 20-somethings ended up being quite difficult (I've had things broken, stolen by their friends/acquaintances, and generally, we just didn't get along), and the general overall quality of the apartment is not as presented on the web.
Graduate students and professionals that actually value their sanity, look elsewhere. read more